Mascara Monday: L’Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes mascara

L’Oreal’s newest mascara has hit the scene and I can’t even begin to tell y’all how many emails I got about it. You must trust me, darlings. If you see that a new mascara has hit the scene and I have yet to review, trust and believe that a review is in the works. I be on it, mannnn.

Okay, let’s get serious. While I’ve always been a fan of L’Oreal Voluminous (I think it’s better than DiorShow), I didn’t think that L’Oreal could tweak it to make it any better. Unless, of course they changed the formula to make it less thick. Which, of course, would mean…lesser or no chances of clumping.

The mascara crew at L’Oreal listened to my inner thoughts and viola—Million Lashes was born. Is it a winner?

L’Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes

Price: 4 out of 5Packaging (brush wand): 4 out of 5Overall: 3 out of 5

What It Claims: It’s a mascara that defines volume. Well, obviously…it does have “voluminous” in the name. 🙂 Check out the packaging…

The Truth: Eh, well…

What I Loved About It: This mascara has what’s called a Millionizer brush and I absolutely love it.

What I Didn’t Like: There were several things that I didn’t like about this mascara. I know, I know, hate to be so negative but y’all know I like to kick the truth to you. So here goes…

Overall: First, let’s talk about the best thing about this mascara: the wand. It rocks. I love mascara wands like this. Those tiny bristles allow you to comb and separate with ease. However, I find that wands like this only work well if you are looking to lengthen your lashes. They don’t seem to be as effective with volumizing. We will leave plusher wands for that task. That said, if voluminous lashes is what you’re looking for, despite the name of this mascara, you won’t find it here.

Now, I WILL give it to L’Oreal, the outer packing of the mascara is great. It’s pretty and shiny and get’s an A+ from me in the Bling Department. I also dig the excess wiper. Click here to see a video how this works. Essentially, a narrow part of the top of the mascara tube makes it so that you don’t pull out a mess load of mascara. Which is supposed to mean, less clumps. The theory makes sense and it actually works. I didn’t find myself pulling out a ton of mascara and there wasn’t any extra on the tip of the wand. Perfecto!

But all can’t be good in the hood. I found the fomula to be TOO thin. And unpleasantly so. It was almost…watery. Ain’t that irony for you? The original Voluminous is too thick and now this one is too watery? You’ll get it right soon, I hope, L’Oreal.

And then there’s the smell. Yes, I said it. It smells…strange. Or is it just me? While the smell dissipates after it dries on my lashes, the fact that I actually SMELL my mascara is just weird to me. No me gusta.

Let’s let the pictures talk.

Bare Lashes
(did not curl lashes)

Lashes with 2 coats

While it lengthens, the volume is just not there. A third coat would have sent me to crispy Clump City. That’s right, crispy. This mascara made my lashes too stiff.

Would I recommend it?: Only if you’re looking to try a new mascara for fun. If you already have a favorite, chances are this one will not top it. And speaking of fun…or fun-nny rather, check this out.

What are lash inserts? False lashes? Sooo, in order for my lashes to look like Eva’s, I’ll have to use Voluminous Million Lashes inserts on TOP of lash inserts? Hmmm. Yes yes, I know that MOST (if not all) mascara advertisements are of ladies wearing false lashes but this is the first time that I’ve seen a brand be open about it. What do you think?

About Brittany

Brittany realized that she'd never achieve perfection and so she started a blog highlighting all of the things in her life that make her happy, however imperfect they are. She enjoys photography, reading, sipping green smoothies, listening to podcasts and acting like a 13-year old with her friends. Brittany is based in Orlando with her geek of a husband, 4-year old girly girl and her 1-year old sonshine.

Comments

I bought this mascara last weekend, and I kinda like it:)
Some people have noticed a difference when i have it on versus having another brand on….I havent noticed a smell Britt! but im sure i will pay attention to it the next time I use it.

I would prefer if the companies stop using lash inserts on the models, hey we are everyday girls over here not rocking falsies 24/7!!

I love ittttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt. Sorry guys I know it has not worked for most of you, but it is absolutely fantastic. Loreal’s volume shocker was good until they discontinued it and left me in the dark. I have been searching for months for a replacement and it came from the very company that had me hooked at first. I love itttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt Good luck, I am still hunting fo that wow mascara but until then I can lay my weary head down and rest.

I am SO GLAD you didn’t like this mascara!
I am a HUGE fan of L’Oreal’s Voluminous so I was stoked to get this one, but it is SUCH A LETDOWN, ugggh!
Sorry for all the anger but I really was disappointed– the wand sucks (I think the placement of the bristles is all kinds of wrong), the formula is so-so, and it really doesn’t do much lengthening OR volumizing (though more lengthening than volume, which doesn’t make sense..). Also the smell! It seems like the newer mascaras have that weird.. smell.. I wonder what it’s from? Can’t be coincidence, lol!
I’m with you in that the wiper is nice, but again– it seems targeted more for lengthening. And at first glance I loved the packaging but now it seems a little cheap to me.. the name has started rubbing off on the side, haha!

All-in-all…. I mean, does anyone even test these products anymore?! Siiiigh..

Thank you for the review, and for letting me get out my feelings, hahaha!

Okay yeah, I thought the smell was just me. Glad to see it’s not. And you bring up a good point…when I see little flaws in these mascaras, it makes me wonder if they are being tested. No one in a focus group said, “You know what…this is more of a lengthening mascara, not a volumizing one.”? I mean, honestly…

I bought this mascara a couple of weeks ago on a whim when I saw it on Walgreens. It was so bad and disappointing that I packed that mess up and took it back to the store for a refund. It was that bad!

I read somewhere that companies have to start putting the fact that the models are wearing false lashes in their advertisements. I’ve seen in on a commercial (although I can’t remember for which mascara) and I’m glad to see it in ads. Even though most of us know, it’s ridiculous that they would try and act like we’d have no clue.

Hi B! Thank you for putting the truth out there about it not being vey volumizing. Also, I just wanted to give you a heads up–both Mabelliene and Cover Girl have that warning at the very bottom of the advertisement. I first saw that claim on the Cover Girl advertisement with Drew Barrymore (I was so sad)

I like that you suggest people to still try to see if there is something they may like. That’s why I still tried the Falsies mascara by Mabelliene.

Oh absolutely…just because a mascara doesn’t work well for me does not mean it can’t work well for someone else. My job is to give you MY honest opinion. And since most of us are impulsive beauty buyers, we’ll probably purchase products with crappy reviews anyway. 🙂 I know I do sometimes.

you should know that i’m a loreal voluminous fan, i’m just not into those rubbery brushes. however, i thought that would help the fact that many say they get clumps with the original voluminous. hmmmm, is the tube super new? some formulas need to be exposed to a bit of air to get the consistency right (kinda like some polishes).. i may try it just because i’m a voluminous fan anyway! ;p thanks for the review.

thanks for reviewing, you saved me some money! I almost bought this last night and though O BUT WAIT, let me check the clumps report. I tell you marketing is a MUTHA becuase the packaging led me to beleive I needed/was missing this mascara in my life.

I love mascara!! i try them all. but my fav is FALSIES by maybelline. oh thats an awesome mascara!!! i got this as well! and its OK. i dont hate it!! but will i buy it again. naw, i will stick with FALSIES.. thats my FAVORITE!!! and saying how u have to insert lashes lol. WOWWW. Thats new to me. to say oh “this is false advertisement” lol

So happy you highlighted the lash inserts fine print. My sister said the same thing about the Falsies by Maybelline. She was like the woman is still wearing lashes so how can I tell the difference? Thanks for the review.

I’m pretty sure they passed some law or something a couple years ago forcing all brands to be open and clear when advertising a mascara and the model has been decked out in falsies. I see it in every single one of Drew Barrymore’s CoverGirl Mascara ads. It’s just so ridiculous! Obviously, their mascara ain’t up to par if their models need fake lashes to make it look good! Liars!

At least they’re honest about using falsies, I get so sick of these companies (any kind of company) pushing false advertising and making false claims about what their product does. I bought this mascara a week ago and wasn’t impressed at all at first. I mos def gave me long lashes, but as you said, the fullness wasn’t there. It grew on me though. I use this along with my Mabelline Full & Soft.

Anyways, I was on one of my recent mascara splurges when I decided to get Million Lashes out of nowhere. Verdict: it was pretty good! I usually don’t look for mascaras that offer volume, because my lashes are fine in that department. I look for separation first, then length and curl, as my Asian lashes grow straight out, with no curl (surprisingly, they aren’t the stereo typical short, stubby, and sparse lashes). This is the first mascara that I bought that has a special excess wiper, but even then I had to clean off a little mascara. And unlike many other mascaras, the formula actually held my curled lashes after applications! It did clump a little, which I don’t like, and I had to brush it out a lot with a lash comb. Not the best mascara I’ve tried, but definitely okay. I like to experiment with mascaras, and I haven’t yet found one that I worship, so I probably won’t try this again.

Hmm, that’s too bad that you didn’t have much luck with it. This is actually my new favorite mascara, quite possibly replacing Covergirl’s LashBlast. I have lashes that do not have any curl whatsoever; they actually point down a bit :S So, I always curl them. This mascara made my lashes go out and up more than the LashBlast did. It wasn’t clump-free (but with my lashes, no mascara seems to be able to do that) I’m kind of glad I bought this before reading the review…no offence lol 🙂

The brush is too thick and bulky, mascara is very thin, I apply 3 times, with the Voluminous I applied only twice and got a good coat. On the positive side..the mascara does not clump and reason being is because it is thin. Think I’ll go back to plain ole Voluminous.